TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sri Lanka has been reclassified as an upper-middle-income economy by the World Bank, marking the country's return to that category four years after its worst-ever economic crisis pushed it to the brink of collapse, as ANTARA reported.
The latest country income classification, released on July 1, places Sri Lanka back in the upper-middle-income group of economies following a recovery led by strong output growth in the industrial, manufacturing, financial services, and tourism sectors. The World Bank projects Sri Lanka's real gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 5 percent by 2025.
"Sri Lanka is a story of recovery. Just three years after a severe economic crisis brought the country to the brink of collapse in 2022, real GDP grew by 5 percent in 2025, driven by a rebound across industries and growth in financial and tourism services. The reclassification is a marker of resilience, though the country only narrowly crossed the threshold," the World Bank said.
The World Bank updates its income classifications every July 1 through the Development Data Group, using estimates of gross national income per capita from the previous calendar year.
Economies are grouped into four categories: low-income, lower-middle-income, upper-middle-income, and high-income. This year's classification covers 218 economies and will remain the global reference until the end of June 2027.
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